Key: Gold Standard
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The Cavaliers close out the longest remaining homestand of the season this weekend – taking on the Nuggets on Saturday night followed by a visit from the Spurs on Sunday. Following that, the Cavaliers play 13 of their final 18 games away from Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
On Wednesday, the shorthanded Cavaliers – missing Tristan Thompson, Darius Garland and Andre Drummond – fell to the equally-shorthanded Celtics, who spoiled Collin Sexton’s career-high scoring night. After trailing by 13 points in the second quarter, the Cavs came back to take a one-point edge with just under three minutes to play. But Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart drilled big late jumpers to seal the season sweep for Boston.
Denver is coming off a close win on Thursday night in Charlotte, with Jamal Murray drilling a runner with five seconds remaining for the win – capping the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter comeback. Seven Nuggets notched double-figures – (although no one more than 18 points) – in the victory.
The Nuggets will be looking for a measure of revenge when they roll in on Saturday, trying to tag the Cavs back after dropping a 111-103 home decision to the Wine & Gold back on January 11. While the Cavaliers have won two of the last three in Denver, they’ve dropped four of the last six in the series overall.
Key: Bullish Market
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It seems like Collin Sexton has been on a run since the middle of his rookie season, but the Young Bull has taken things to another level over the past week.
After tying his career-high scoring mark last Friday in New Orleans, netting 31 points against the Pelicans, Sexton proceeded to set a new scoring mark (32) three days later against the Jazz and eclipsed that in the very next game against Boston – going off for a career-best 41 points in the loss.
Over his last four games, the sophomore guard from Alabama has tallied exactly 120 points – improving his scoring average above the 20-point mark (a team-best 20.5ppg) and extending his double-digit scoring streak to 33 games. This season, Sexton has topped the 20-point plateau in 31 games, has five games of 30-plus and posted his first 40-point effort on Wednesday night.
Sexton averaged just 11.0ppg in two games against Denver last year, but went for 25 points in Cleveland’s early-January win – going 9-of-18 from the floor, including 4-of-7 from deep.
Denver’s Gary Harris will spend some time against Sexton, but he’ll also have to tangle with Denver’s second-highest scorer – Jamal Murray – who’s slowed down after a furious run after returning from an ankle injury before the All-Star Break.
In his fourth year out of Kentucky, Murray notched three of his six 30-point outings immediately after returning from injury and has 15 games of 20-plus overall this season – including a 24-point effort in January’s loss to Cleveland, going 10-of-22 from the floor, adding five boards, three assists and three steals.
Key: Joker's Wild
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Slowing down the Nuggets means slowing down Nikola Jokic – and not many teams over the past couple years have had much luck with that.
Who the Cavaliers will have healthy on Saturday night will make a big difference. Andre Drummond has missed four of his last five games with a left calf issue and Tristan Thompson was sidelined over his last two with a sore left knee.
This season, the Joker ranks 7th in the NBA with 38 double-doubles and ranks 3rd – just behind Luka Doncic and LeBron James – with 12 triple-doubles. In his fifth season after being the 41st overall pick in 2014, Jokic leads the Nuggets in scoring, rebounding and assists. He’s posted 28 games of 20 points or more, seven of 30-plus and exploded for 47 points in a January win over Atlanta.
The Cavs haven’t been immune to Jokic’s onslaught over the past couple seasons. In the final game between these teams last year, he notched a triple double with 19 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds and, in the head-to-head battle back in January, finished with 19 points and 12 boards.
With the rash of injuries in Wednesday’s loss to Boston, Kevin Love moved to the 5 and had an outstanding night – doubling-up with 26 points and 14 boards, going 9-of-17 from the floor, including 5-of-10 from long-range. The five-time All-Star was also very good in Cleveland’s win over Denver earlier this season – finishing with 19 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.
Larry Nance Jr. was his rock-solid self against Boston – also netting a double-double with 19 points to go with game-highs in rebounding (15) and steals (4).